Pay viewing dips in Italy

FTA Television has confirmed its position as the preferred media of Italians, with over 96 per cent of adults stating they have watched free-to-air TV in the previous week, according to a study on media consumption and advertising expenditure prepared by eMarketer, in collaboration with Starcom MediaVest Group Italia.

However, pay viewing on satellite and IPTV was down on the previous year due to the pressure of household expenditure on consumers. In 2012, 58.7 per cent of those polled claimed to have watched pay TV on IPTV during the previous week, in the first part of 2013 this percentage dropped to 45.3 per cent. Satellite TV viewing has also dropped, from 33 per cent to 22 per cent of the sample involved.

The survey also showed that Italians spend, on average, 3 hours and 43 minutes a day in front of the TV screen.

Ad spending is expected to fall by 1.5 per cent in 2013, before recovering in 2014 with a growth of 1.5 per cent.